Third Person Dies in Kashmir Protests

By

Margherita Stancati

Feb. 11, 2013 1:16 pm ET

NEW DELHI—Tensions increased in Kashmir Monday as a third person died in protests over India's secret execution of a Kashmiri man over the weekend for his involvement in an attack on the nation's Parliament in 2001.

Indian authorities hanged Mohammad Afzal Guru Saturday morning in a New Delhi prison, where he was being held, announcing the death later that day. He was buried inside the prison.

Mr. Guru, a Kashmiri, was found guilty in 2002 of arranging to obtain weapons for militants who attacked Parliament. Five militants stormed the building, killing eight policeman and a gardener before Indian security forces shot and killed them.

The Indian government blamed the attack on Jaish-e-Mohammed, a militant group with roots in Pakistan.

Mr. Guru had denied all charges, but Indian President Pranab Mukherjee this month turned down his appeal for clemency, the last legal chance to reverse the execution order.

In India's portion of Kashmir, a Himalayan region divided between Pakistan and India, many people have said they believe Mr. Guru was a scapegoat for the attacks and didn't get a fair trial. The execution sparked weekend protests across the area.

On Monday, Obaid Mushtaq, a 13-year-old boy, died from a gunshot wound after being randomly hit during a clash with paramilitary forces Sunday in a village near Sopore, not far from Mr. Guru's birthplace, said a police officer in Jammu and Kashmir state.

Two people drowned Sunday in a river outside Srinagar, the state's summer capital, while trying to escape from paramilitary forces and local police during a protest, the officer said.

A spokesman for India's Home Ministry, which controls the paramilitary forces, declined to comment.

Indian Kashmir entered a third day of 24-hour curfew Monday. Authorities banned the publication of newspapers for a second day and restricted access to local cable-television channels and the Internet, said local residents.

Tahir Mohidin,
the editor of Chattan, a local Urdu-language daily, said police confiscated a van carrying Sunday's edition of his newspaper and he has been unable to publish since.

"People are angry about the curfew. They are fed up. They can't even access essential commodities like medicines," Mr. Mohidin said.

Many Kashmiris support independence from India, which maintains hundreds of thousands of security personnel in the region. Tens of thousands of civilians died in fighting between Pakistan-backed militants and Indian forces in an insurgency that raged in the 1990s and 2000s but since has died down.

In New Delhi, India's capital, police said they temporarily detained 21 Kashmiri students over the weekend who were protesting against Mr. Guru's execution.

"For us Kashmiris residing in Delhi, there is very little scope for dissent," said
Irfan Das,
a 26-year-old film-making student who participated in the protest.

Indian Home Minister
Sushil Kumar Shinde,
during a news conference Monday, defended the hanging of Mr. Guru and the security clampdown, saying the government will remain "alert" to maintain order in Kashmir.

New Delhi says Pakistan continues to back militants in India's part of Kashmir, which Pakistan denies. A string of deaths of Indian and Pakistani soldiers this year in firing incidents across the de facto border in Kashmir has raised tensions.

During the briefing, Mr. Shinde denied allegations from Mr. Guru's family that they hadn't been informed in advance about the hanging. Mr. Shinde said authorities had sent them a letter with the details of the impending execution.

On Sunday, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister
Omar Abdullah
criticized the decision to execute Mr. Guru, saying it reinforced a sense of "injustice" and "alienation" among young people in Kashmir.

"There are enough voices in the rest of the country who also believe that the judicial process in this matter was flawed," he told Indian cable news channel NDTV.

The execution came only three months after India secretly hanged
Mohammed Ajmal
Kasab, the sole surviving Pakistani militant from the 2008 attacks on Mumbai, which left more than 160 people dead.

India rarely uses the death penalty and the two executions so close together have alarmed some observers.

"In the long term, it's our democracy that is taking a knock," said
Seema Mustafa,
an analyst with the Center for Policy Analysis, a New Delhi-based research group.

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Third Person Dies in Kashmir Protests

NEW DELHI—Tensions increased in Kashmir Monday as a third person died in protests over India's secret execution of a Kashmiri man over the weekend for his involvement in an attack on the nation's Parliament in 2001.